1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front end structure of a vehicle comprising a front end panel arranged on the front end portion of the vehicle so that the front portion of the vehicle is compartmented into an engine compartment containing an internal combustion engine (engine) and a portion other than the engine compartment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The heat exchanger such as the radiator or the condenser is for cooling the fluid such as the cooling water or refrigerant by introducing air from the front end of the vehicle. In the case where the vehicle is stationary or running slowly, however, the heat generated by the engine in the engine compartment goes around to before the heat exchanger (or vehicle) through the gap between the front end panel and the vehicle body or along the ground surface, and therefore the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger is deteriorated.
The conventional system to cope with this problem, as shown in FIG. 6, comprises a duct 101 extended toward the vehicle front from a front end panel 100 for blocking the heat which otherwise might flow into a heat exchanger 200 while at the same time introducing the fresh air (air not containing heat) existing before the vehicle into the heat exchanger thereby to prevent the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger from being deteriorated.
With the solving means described above, however, a shock, if imparted to the front end portion of the vehicle, acts on the duct through a bumper reinforcement, a bumper cover 410, a design grille, etc., and therefore the duct and the front end panel having the duct are liable to be damaged.
This problem may be solved by means of forming in advance a gap corresponding to the shock-caused deformation of the bumper reinforcement, the bumper cover 410 and the design grille between the end portion of the duct in the vehicle front side and the bumper reinforcement, the bumper cover 410 or the design grille. With this means, however, the heat goes around to before the heat exchanger (or vehicle) through the gap formed between the end portion of the duct in the vehicle front side and the bumper reinforcement, the bumper cover 410 or the design grille, thereby adversely affecting the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger.
As shown in FIG. 7, another means, conceivable for solving this problem, is to attach the duct 101 as a separate part on the front end panel 100 by such fastening means as a clip Cp and to decrease the strength of the duct 101 as compared with the strength of the front end panel 100 so that the duct 101 constituting the separate part may be broken first under a shock which may be imparted. However, with this means, the production cost of the vehicle is increased undesirably since the number of parts of the vehicle front end portion and the number of assembly steps are increased.
In view of the problem points described above, the object of the present invention is to provide a front end structure of the vehicle in which heat is prevented from going around to before the heat exchanger (or vehicle) while reducing the damage under a shock which may be imparted on the front end portion of the vehicle.
In order to achieve the object described above, according to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a front end structure of a vehicle, comprising a front end panel (100) arranged on the front end portion of the vehicle for compartmenting the front portion of the vehicle into an engine compartment containing an internal combustion engine and a portion other than the engine compartment, the front end panel (100) including an air inlet (140) for introducing air from the front side of the vehicle into the engine compartment, a cooling heat exchanger (200) for cooling the fluid with the air passing through the air inlet (140), and a bumper cover (410) arranged forward of the front end panel (100) and covering a bumper reinforcement (400) for absorbing the shock acting on the front end portion of the vehicle, wherein the front end panel (100) includes a panel wall portion (141) protruded toward the vehicle front side from the outer edge portion of the air inlet (140) and having the forward end portion thereof spaced from the bumper cover (410) with a predetermined gap (xcex41), wherein the bumper cover (410) includes a bumper wall portion (411) protruded toward the front end panel (100) and having the end portion thereof spaced from the front end panel (100) with a predetermined gap (xcex42), and wherein the wall portions (141, 411) have surfaces (144, 412) facing in opposed relation to each other, respectively.
As a result, the draft resistance (pressure loss) on the opposed surfaces (144, 412) prevents the heat from going (flowing) around to before the heat exchanger (200). Thus, the deterioration of the cooling capacity of the cooling heat exchanger (200) is prevented while at the same time reducing the damage under a shock which may be imparted on the front end portion of the vehicle.
The opposed surfaces (144, 412) may be either in a spaced relation or in contact with each other.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a front end structure of a vehicle, comprising a front end panel (100) arranged on the front end portion of the vehicle for compartmenting the front portion of the vehicle into an engine compartment containing an internal combustion engine and a portion other than the engine compartment, the front end panel (100) including an air inlet (140) for introducing air from the front side of the vehicle into the engine compartment, a cooling heat exchanger (200) for cooling the fluid with the air passing through the air inlet (140), and a design grille (300) arranged forward of the front end panel (100) for forming a design shape of the front end portion of the vehicle, wherein the front end panel (100) includes a panel wall portion (141) protruded toward the vehicle front side from the outer edge portion of the air inlet (140) and having the forward end portion thereof spaced from the design grille (300) with a predetermined gap (xcex44), wherein the design grille (300) includes a grille wall portion (320) protruded toward the front end panel (100) and having the end portion thereof spaced from the front end panel (100) with a predetermined gap (xcex45), and wherein the wall portions (141, 320) have surfaces (143, 321) facing in opposed relation to each other, respectively.
As a result, the draft resistance (pressure loss) on the opposed surfaces (143, 321) prevent the heat from going (flowing) around to before the heat exchanger (200). Thus, the deterioration of the cooling capacity of the cooling heat exchanger (200) is prevented while at the same time reducing the damage under a shock which may be imparted on the front end portion of the vehicle.
The opposed surfaces (143, 321) may be either in spaced relation or in contact with each other.
According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a front end structure of a vehicle, comprising a front end panel (100) arranged on the front end portion of the vehicle for compartmenting the front portion of the vehicle into an engine compartment containing an internal combustion engine and a portion other than the engine compartment, the front end panel (100) including an air inlet (140) for introducing air from the front side of the vehicle into the engine compartment, a cooling heat exchanger (200) for cooling the fluid with the air passing through the air inlet (140), a bumper cover (410) arranged forward of the front end panel (100) and covering the bumper reinforcement (400) for absorbing the shock which may act on the front end portion of the vehicle, and a design grille (300) arranged forward of the front end panel (100) for forming a design shape of the front end portion of the vehicle, wherein the front end panel (100) includes a panel wall portion (141) protruded toward the vehicle front side from the outer edge portion of the air inlet (140) and having the forward end portion thereof spaced from the bumper cover (410) and the design grille (300) with predetermined gaps (xcex41, xcex44), wherein the bumper cover (410) includes a bumper wall portion (411) protruded toward the front end panel (100) and having the end portion thereof spaced from the front end panel (100) with a predetermined gap (xcex42), wherein the design grille (300) includes a grille wall portion (320) protruded toward the front end panel (100) and having the end portion thereof spaced from the front end panel (100) with a predetermined gap (xcex45), and wherein the panel wall portion (141) faces to the bumper wall portion (411) and the grill wall portion (320) in opposed relation, respectively.
As a result, like the front end structures of the vehicle described above, heat is prevented from going (flowing) around to before the heat exchanger (200), while at the same time reducing the damage under a shock which may be imparted on the front end portion of the vehicle.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a front end structure of a vehicle, wherein the panel wall portion (141) and the wall portion(s) (411 and/or 320) in opposed relation to the panel wall portion (141) are arranged substantially in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
As a result, when a shock directed from the front side to the rear side of the vehicle acts on the vehicle front end portion, the wall portion(s) (411 and/or 320) opposed to the panel wall portion (141) can be deformed (displaced) toward the front end panel (100) without interference between the panel wall portion (141) and the wall portion(s) (411 and/or 320) opposed to the panel wall portion (141), thereby making it possible to more surely reduce the damage from the shock which may be imparted on the front end portion of the vehicle.
Incidentally, the reference numerals in the parentheses attached to the respective means described above represent correspondence to the specific means included in the embodiments described later.